Love Bug
by LadyWillow
Summary: What if the plague on Omega had an unexpected effect on a certain Turian? F!Shepard and Garrus romance.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Mass Effect, it belongs to Bioware.

What if the plague on Omega had an unexpected effect on a certain Turian?

**Love Bug**  
><em>Written 93/2011_

"A quarantine zone for a plague that kills Turians, why don't we ever go anywhere nice?" 

His left mandible quirked in a cocky smile, and Garrus folded his arms across his chest. Shepard smiled ruefully, and shrugged.

"You can hang back in the Normandy if you'd like, Garrus. Hate for you to get sick…"

"It's your call, Shepard. If you need me, I'm not going to let a cough keep me back". Garrus stated firmly, and Shepard sighed, torn.

"You're irreplaceable, Garrus. If you really don't mind coming along, I'd love to have you."

With a nod from Garrus, things were decided, and he, Shepard and Miranda headed into the quarantine zone cautiously.

XXXX

Entering the quarantine zone, they were immediately assaulted by a wave of pungent smoke, and the sight of death all around. Small fires lit up the otherwise darkened streets, and the sounds of the dying gave Shepard chills up her spine.

She led Miranda and Garrus past a particularly aromatic pile of burning Batarian corpses, and Garrus gave an exaggerated sniff, and then a disappointed sigh.

"Over the years I've grown used to smell of dead bodies... that's probably a bad sign..."

Shepard stifled a chuckle, and turned to walk backwards for a few steps, catching Garrus's eyes for a moment.

"I know exactly what you mean."

The sound of someone moaning in agony stopped Shepard from elaborating, and instead she turned to see a Batarian man sitting on the ground, leaned against a shabby apartment building. Quickly, she made her way to his side, and knelt before him.

"Human, should have guessed." He ground out, before letting out a long, wet cough, "bad enough you infected us with this plague. Now you lack the decency to even wait until I die to come steal my possessions."

Shepard blinked, and shook her head. "No, I'm here to help. Is there anything I can do for you?" she reached out toward him, concern on her face, only to be startled when he lashed out.

"Get away from me, human! Your kind has done too much already!" Another heavy cough, and he swayed a bit before continuing, "your plague did this to me. Your feigned pity is the final insult."

Shepard frowned. "Humans didn't create this plague."

"Lies drip from your mouth like the blood from my sores. The proof is there for all to see." The Batarian insisted, giving a vague gesture all around himself.

"Your species is the only one that does not succumb to the virus. Yours, and the wretched Vorcha."

Shepard gave a frustrated sigh, and tried to change tactics. "Look, I'm trying to find Mordin Solus." She stated, looking at him expectantly. Behind her, Garrus began to cough.

"Humans looking for the human sympathizer. I hope the Vorcha burn Mordin and his clinic to the ground." His coughing grew worse, and he began to gasp for breath. "I hope you…I hope… Damn it. Damn you… can't…"

Shepard quickly accessed her omni tool, and passed some medigel over the worst of his sores and across his chest to hopefully ease his breathing.

"Hey, stay with me. This won't cure the plague, but it might help a bit." She said soothingly.

The Batarian managed to sit up a bit more, and looked up at Shepard in shock, all four eyes wide and focused fully on her face in wonder.

"You… you helped me. Why?"

"It's what I do. I don't know if I can find a cure for this plague, but I'm going to try."

"Your words sound sincere," the Batarian said, still surprised, "maybe it's the fever, but as you said – what have I to lose?"

Shepard gave him a cautious smile, and the Batarian returned it with a weary one.

"What do you wish to know?"

Another cough from Garrus, and Shepard cursed under her breath. "I need to find Mordin Solus."

"He has a clinic on the far side of the district. He's taking in refuges. Offering to help those infected with the plague. I was afraid to go to him before. He's dangerous. But perhaps he can help."

Shepard nodded in gratitude. "When I find Mordin, I'll tell him about you. If he has a cure, I'll make sure someone gets it to you."

"Thank you," the Batarian began, coughing again, but not as severely as he had been earlier, "my time is running short, but at least you have given me a flicker of hope to brighten the darkness of my final hours. I don't want to die. Whatever Mordin is, I will risk it, if he can reach me."

"What makes Mordin worse than dying from the plague?"

"The Blue Suns tried to press him for protection money. He killed them. Stunned them with some kind of toxin, then gunned them down. He's not just a doctor. Doctors don't execute people and display the bodies as a warning."

Shepard frowned, forehead creasing with concern, and she was silent for several moments, before she stood and dusted off her hands. "I should go. Just rest, someone will be here to help you soon."

With that, she turned, and caught a look of both disgust and pity on Miranda's face. Ignoring it for now, she instead turned to Garrus.

"How are you holding up?" she asked, and he shrugged.

"Just a little cough, no need to worry." He insisted, and then pointed down an ally way. "I think we're supposed to go that way."

Shepard nodded, gave Garrus a pat on the shoulder, and struck out quickly, knowing that there was no time to lose.

XXX

"Is it hot in here, or –" A deep, rasping cough, and Garrus groaned, "Oh, that's not good."

Shepard winced, turning to look back at Garrus briefly in concern. They had just finished shooting down several Vorcha and their Varren, and Miranda was popping a fresh heat sink into her gun. Garrus caught Shepard's gaze and shook his head, waving off her worry. He reassurances were ruined, however, by the second wave of coughing that washed over him, and he bent over, bracing his hands on his legs as he proceeded to cough so hard, he felt light headed. Standing up straight again, he looked at Shepard. And then looked at her some more. And then something strange happened.

He felt his plates begin to puff up subtly, something that happened to his kind when trying to display themselves to a potential mate.

And more disturbing still, he felt his lower plates shift, the beginnings of an erection starting inside his armor, which he was suddenly very grateful he was wearing.

_What in the name of the Spirits is going on?_ He wondered, completely baffled. For some reason, he was having a mating response to Shepard.

Sure, he'd had feelings for her for years now, but for two of them, she'd been dead. They'd only reunited a few days ago, when she'd saved his neck from the mercs, and even back on the old Normandy, his body had never responded like this. He'd considered his feelings a harmless crush mixed with a healthy dose of hero worship, and had thus written them off. But apparently, things were a bit more serious than he'd thought.

Unless…

Was it possible that the plague was causing his lust? Maybe it affected the pleasure centers of the brain?

That had to be it.

He was startled out of his thoughts by Shepard, who was standing less than a foot away from him now, starting at him with deep worry on her features.

"Garrus? You don't look so good. I'd say you're flushed, but, well…"

Garrus nodded in understanding. "Let's just find the doctor, Shepard." He said softly, not wanting to worry her any more than necessary. But now, he was very concerned. Because with Shepard standing so close, things were starting to get out of control.

His brain was screaming "mate!", his body was aching to grab her and have his way with her right there on the floor, less than five feet from the scorched corpse of a Varren (Miranda's incendiary ammo had taken care of the vile creature in one blow), and their audience be damned.

XXXX

_Spirits, I can hardly look at her without wanting to tear all that armor off and discover just how different she really is from a Turian woman._ Garrus groaned, knowing they had to be close to the clinic by now. Shepard had been giving him strange looks for the last fifteen minutes, and he was worried that's she was becoming suspicious.

His fears were realized when she stopped their advance, and took Garrus aside.

"Okay, Garrus, talk to me. What's going on? I know you're being affected by the plague, but there's something else." She smirked. "I've caught you staring at my ass twice now. Is there something you need to tell me?"

Oh Spirits. 

He gulped. "Shepard, I… the plague is doing things to me I don't understand." He said, voice breaking in embarrassment and desperation. "I need you." He said shamefully, and Shepard frowned.

"This is just the plague speaking?" she asked, and Garrus would have been bright red, could Turian's blush.

"I've… I've always admired you Shepard. The plague is making things… more difficult than they were before."

She didn't have to ask when "before" was, she understood. She and Garrus had always been close before her accident. She'd considered him her best friend, someone she could trust with anything. And apparently, Garrus had felt the same way about her… and more.

And now he was sick, and being distracted at a very dangerous time.

"Garrus, I've… always admired you, too." She admitted. "Always thought you were handsome, in an alien way, always enjoyed your company… but I don't think this is the right time to deal with these feelings. We're in the middle of Vorcha territory, and we're kind of in a hurry…"

Garrus laughed out loud. "I know, pretty inconvenient, right? Still, I can't stop thinking about you… about how… flexible you are." His mandibles tightened against his face, and Shepard blushed.

Well, now what? Did she let him remain distracted, and thus a danger to them all, or did she give in to his (and if she was being honest, her own) desires.

"Fuck it." Shepard said, "just take off the bottom of your armor, we don't have a lot of time." She said roughly, and Garrus stared at her in shock for several moments before kicking into gear and quickly stripping off the bottom of his armor.

The first touch her hand on him was like fire and electricity all at once, and he gasped, then watched as Shepard knelt, and took him into her mouth.

He wasn't too different from a human, when everything was fully erect. He was long and smooth, no head to speak of, and his shaft ended in a point. The whole thing was flushed light blue, and she could see the sheath it had emerged from, still within his body.

"I… oh! I read something in… Fornax about this…Spirits! You could be… ooohhh… you could be allergic." He warned, and Shepard glanced up at him and winked, continuing her activities, sliding him in and out of her mouth rapidly, tongue fluttering along the shaft.

"Shepard!" Garrus exclaimed, and she grinned against him, gave a soft moan, and began to work what she couldn't fit into her mouth with her hand, watching his face carefully.

"Now!" he exclaimed, and Shepard drew back, allowing him to ejaculate on the floor instead of in her mouth, just in case. It wouldn't do to have Garrus be sick from the plague, and her going through anaphylactic shock, after all.

As she watched, his erection diminished, and retreated back into his body, and then he was putting his armor back on, and Shepard grinned up at him.

"Well then, shall we get back to work?"

Epilogue:

"Here is cure. Hold still. Needle is thick to pierce tough skin, may hurt."

Garrus sat on an exam table, Doctor Mordin Solus stood before him, carefully injecting him with the cure, while Shepard watched from a few feet away, arms folded across her chest in a state of nervous discomfort. Was this the end of things for them? Once he was cured, would Garrus have any interest in her sexually again? Or would they go back to being friends?

Mordin walked away, and Garrus frowned. "When should I start feeling better?" he asked, and Mordin turned to him, frowning.

"Cure is instantaneous. Should already be feeling the healing effects. Symptoms should be gone by now."

Garrus blinked a few times, then laughed out loud. Getting down from the table, he moved toward Shepard, and took her in his arms.

"It wasn't the plague," he said simply, before leaning down to nibble on her neck gently, "it was me. And I still want you."

Grinning, Shepard moved back to look Garrus in the eye.

"Well then, let's get this cure distributed through the air vents, and go back to the Normandy. I have a feeling there's a lot more trouble we can get up to together."

Mordin blinked. "Risk of allergic reaction high in relationship between Turian and Human, highly advise caution in your proceedings."

Shepard blushed, and nodded. "Caution. Of course." She said simply, and looked at Garrus.

"Caution. No problem."

XXXX

That night, after the plague was cured, Mordin was recruited, and everyone had retired to their bunks for the night, Garrus and Shepard explored each other throughout the night.

Of course, they were very cautious.

But that still didn't stop Shepard from waddling into the tech lab first thing the next morning.

And to this day, Shepard still insists that Mordin was making fun of her the whole time he gave her a long talk about Turian biology, rashes, and chafing.

Striking out in the lead in his urgency to put some distance between himself and the object of his lust, Garrus took off down the next hall, opening the door and finding himself in a large, open room. Shepard came in behind, and yet again, Vorcha and Krogan made an attack. The three scurried to cover, and with grim determination and cautious attacks, took out the enemies.

EDI chimed in on their radio frequency, informing them that the machine at the end of the room was where they could insert the cure. 


End file.
